Page 31 of Tracking the Alpha
The general snorted. “As if it will fall for such a blatant trick.” As if catching his gaffe, he quickly added, “The wolf is smart and will smell the domestication on a farm animal. No way it falls for the bait.”
“So little faith. You get me some proper meat bait and I’ll make sure the fury menace can’t resist.”
“That kind of request will take a few days to coordinate,” Davidson replied.
“That’s fine. Like I said before, it will give the wolf time to calm down and me a chance to sleep in a real bed and shower while I plan where to spring the trap. Expect me back at the facility by midafternoon.” A few hours from now, which was how long it would take her to walk that far.
“I can get you here faster than that.”
“How?” she asked, even as she suddenly heard the distant hum of engines.
“I already had soldiers in the area because of our training exercise. They’re heading to your location now.”
The claim tightened her belly. “How? I haven’t told you where I am.”
“Did you really think I’d send you off without a means to check in on you?”
“You’ve been tracking me?” Tanis wanted to ask what he’d bugged, only to have it hit her suddenly. The general hadn’t known where to find Tanis until she turned on the walkie-talkie. The signal it emitted gave her away.
Tanis glanced at the walkie, tempted to toss it into the fast-flowing creek. However, that wouldn’t go well with her cover of being ignorant. “Glad to know I won’t have to walk all the way back. See you soon.”
She left the device on but muted it before she held it up and waved it around. “He can track me when it’s turned on.” No need to shout. If Barrett watched, then he heard. Listened but didn’t appear. What had happened to make him suddenly distrust her? Then again, why should he believe anything she said?
Actions speak louder than words. An expression to live by.
“I’m going back to the facility to scout.” It felt kind of weird to be talking aloud, but she wanted him to know what she planned. “Once I get a grip on numbers and whatnot, I’ll try and find a way to let you know. Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky and get a message out.” An email or a phone call to a media outlet could blow the whole operation apart. Although she did remain mindful of the fact Barrett thought the general would torch the facility if he thought he might get caught.
No reply. Whatever. Barrett might have suddenly decided he didn’t want an ally, but Tanis was committed. She needed a way out of this mess with or without him.
Tanis tucked the walkie into her pack and eyed the rocky face she had to climb down, followed by the cold water she’d need to cross to meet up with the soldiers. Ugh. Unpleasant or not, it had to be done.
By the time she reached the other side of the creek, a UTV emerged from the woods, carrying a pair of soldiers. She noted their faces so she wouldn’t count them again later.
A wet and shivering Tanis rode in the back, glad that what would have taken her three to four hours ended up being thirty minutes of a breakneck trip through whipping trees.
The UTV stopped in front of the main gate of the facility. It resembled a compound like you’d see in a movie with its concrete wall topped with barbed wire and the soldier who stood on a platform with a rifle in hand keeping watch. A seemingly unnecessary precaution, seeing as cameras panned the area on each corner.
Two in the UTV plus one sentry equaled three soldiers.
She slid out of the vehicle and waited for the gate to be opened. Once it gapped wide enough for her to slip through, Tanis entered. She kept her face pointed forward, expression bored, but her eyes darted left and right taking in details. To her left, a female soldier hosed down an area only partially visible through an open door. Was this where the coyote escaped from last night, or had there been more than one incident?
In any case, four troops so far.
By the time Tanis made it to her room in the barnlike structure that had been turned into a dorm, she’d only counted one other soldier, and two people in white coats. If she added them to the total, that put the number at seven. Definitely not a horde but too many for her to handle alone if a confrontation came to pass. Although could be the white coats might balk if a physical altercation occurred.
Inside the barracks, Tanis assumed she’d be in the same room as before so she made her way to it and dumped her pack on the cot. It occurred to her, as she glanced around, that there might be cameras watching and listening. Then again, it would be kind of pointless. Who would she be talking to? They’d confiscated her phone before she’d even gotten off the plane, with the major unapologetically claiming national security as he ground it under his heel. By then she’d already begun doubting the veracity of this supposed mission. Once she met the general—with his freshly scarred face and brusque attitude—she’d realized it wasn’t just the wolf she needed to worry about. The major and the general both set off her danger radar even as they said all the right things. Talking with Barrett simply confirmed her distrust.
What now? The last time Tanis had been inside this makeshift military facility, she’d quickly organized herself so she could leave. At the time, despite her misgivings, she truly hoped she could quickly track the escaped alpha, hand it over, and go home. This time, rather than racing into the woods, she needed to gather information, but had to do so in a way that didn’t draw attention.
Her room, which she suspected once used to be a stall, had only a tiny window that overlooked the courtyard where she’d entered. However, the loft, where some of the soldiers gathered at night to play cards, offered a better view of the outdoors. The ladder up to that level took but a moment to climb. To her relief, no one sat around the fold-up table. A deck of cards lay partially spread over its surface, along with some colored chips.
Tanis headed for a window, the one overlooking the front. It showed the entrance she’d just passed through as well as the edge of the forest and some of the trails leading into it, as well as the road out. As far as she’d been able to ascertain, no one else lived within at least an hour’s drive of the place if not farther. The remote location was obviously ideal for people up to no good.
A glance to the area where someone had been using a hose showed a small concrete yard, fully enclosed and empty. She wondered what the soldier had been cleaning.
Before she could cross to the rear for a peek from a different window, someone below knocked on a door and said loudly, “Tanis Rivard, are you in here, ma’am?”
Tempting to ignore the quick summons, but she still had to play her part for the moment and that meant not making the general suspicious. She headed down the ladder. “I’m Tanis. Can I help you?”
